Oracle is planning to hire 1,400 new inside salespeople to push its cloud software portfolio in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before we get into what this means, here are the key details from Oracle's announcement:
The new roles will be based in six locations: Amsterdam (The Netherlands); Cairo and Dubai (Middle East); Dublin (Ireland); Malaga (Spain) and Prague (Czech Republic).
In addition to hiring the very best talent from the above locations, Oracle is looking for recruits with a range of experience from across the EMEA region, from highly motivated sales professionals with two to three years’ experience to highly experienced senior sales professionals.
As well as increasing its cloud sales workforce Oracle will be investing in two new cloud sales centres in Amsterdam and Cairo and new state-of-the-art offices opening this year in Dubai, Dublin and Prague.
Oracle currently offers more than 600 different cloud applications which combined with its comprehensive on-premise hardware and software offering, creates the opportunity to help organisations seamlessly manage their overall enterprise computing environment while helping them transition to the cloud. Over the past six months, Oracle added nearly 1,500 new software as a service (SaaS) customers and more than 2,100 platform as a service (PaaS) customers.
In a statement, Oracle president Loic Le Guisquet said the company is looking for "socially savvy, switched on individuals who can help customers respond to the digital imperative and make their businesses future proof."
Analysis: Behind Oracle's EMEA Sales Surge
"Oracle would not go on a hiring drive if it wasn't sure it really had something that is ready to be sold," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Holger Mueller. "So we can assume that when the bulk of these sales professionals are on board, the Oracle cloud products are ready for prime time in EMEA. That's not a trivial task, given the number of languages and statutory complexity which spans across Europe, Middle East and Africa."
It's notable that Oracle's hiring plans are for inside sales, with cloud deals being pursued on the phone and through social channels, "rather than putting account managers on the streets in cars and on planes," Mueller adds. "It is likely we could witness a rethinking of how enterprise software is being marketed, sold and supported in EMEA."
Industry veterans may recall how Tom Siebel, while at Oracle, developed Oracle Direct, a team and co-selling approach for technology software sales, Mueller says. "This allowed Oracle to penetrate the SMB market and capture profitable deals with shorter sales cycles. We may see the next step here, only in the 21st century."
Indeed, the fact that Oracle is seeking both newer and veteran salespeople for EMEA cloud sales suggests such a team approach may be in the cards.
Meanwhile, the announcement comes a bit over halfway through Oracle's fiscal year. Typically, Oracle sells the most software in its fourth quarter ended May 31, but it's not clear EMEA customers and prospects will feel much impact from Oracle's hiring spree by then, considering the time needed to hire and onboard the new salespeople.
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